


Fallen Angels

by butteredbandits



Series: Roche Week 2021 [4]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, Roche Week 2021, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28986771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butteredbandits/pseuds/butteredbandits
Summary: The truth facing Roche is an ugly one, but he'd been warned hadn't he?
Series: Roche Week 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125632
Kudos: 11





	Fallen Angels

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt(s): Mentor, Monster
> 
> I'm running with the idea that Roche was mentored by Genesis, because Roche really does come off as a cross between a jock and theater buff.

The _thing_ crumpled at Roche's feet had been a human mere minutes ago. It was hardly recognizable now, the flesh had warped and decayed, tatters of a 2nd Class SOLDIER uniform stuck out from the folds of mutated flesh, the last scraps of humanity left to it. Genesis had warned him that the SOLDIER program was rotten from the core, but his imagination hadn't even so much as brushed the truth.

The young, hopeful recruits that hadn't made it past the first injections… they hadn't been sent home. They'd mutated into twisted, tortured monsters and been killed. Roche felt sick as his idealized image of ShinRa was ripped away, revealing the truth. He suddenly understood why Genesis had left. ShinRa wasn't making heroes, just monsters.

Degradation was his fate. If he didn't turn into one of those things, he'd wilt away and die at half the age most did.

Roche was scheduled for a promotion at the end of the month, and suddenly the title held no appeal.

Despite the terror seizing his heart, he laughed.

No one left the SOLDIER program, and the reasons for that were more clear than ever. If he couldn't run, he could at least fight, and perhaps he'd find a kinder death and inconvenience the company that had ruined his future.

Roche knelt down and gently closed the eyelids of what once was a person with hopes and dreams. He recalled a verse of Loveless then, and the distant look in Genesis' eyes when he'd read it to him. Roche repeated it aloud to himself,

" _My friend, the fates are cruel_  
_There are no dreams, no honor remains_  
_The arrow has left, the bow of the goddess._ "


End file.
